AerCap Holdings subsidiary AeroTurbine will supply Aveos with engine and airframe components under a five-year lease agreement. Contract calls for acquisition and leasing of certain A320 and 737 rotables as well as additional inventory for Aveos to position at various locations worldwide. Under a separate five-year deal, Aveos will provide AeroTurbine with MRO on CFM56-2s, -3s and -5s.
Cargolux Airlines International announced the launch of Cargolux Italia, a subsidiary that will operate long-haul cargo flights from Milan Malpensa. It plans to start operations as soon as ENAC grants certification, which is expected in April. No further details were announced.
Atlas Air Worldwide, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, said it will retire seven of its 14 747-200s and report a largely noncash pre-tax special charge of approximately $85-$95 million associated with retirements. "The current pronounced downturn in global airfreight demand has caused us to accelerate our plans to retire a portion of our older 747-200 assets," President and CEO William Flynn said. AAWW expects to report full-year 2008 pre-tax operating income of $55-$60 million when it releases its earnings on Feb. 24.
Airbus revealed Friday that it had 12 order cancellations in January while booking just four orders, and ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy projected that both Airbus and Boeing will cut production over the next two years by as much as 30%-35%. Airbus currently plans to produce close to 500 aircraft this year, while Boeing's target is 480-485 units. Turkish Airlines ordered four A321s in January, but Airbus reported cancellations during the month for three A318s, two A319s, three A320s and four A321s.
Austrian Airlines Group could become insolvent if a planned takeover by Lufthansa is not approved by European authorities. Speaking to Austrian journalists in Vienna last week, state holding company OIAG CEO Peter Michaelis said the company is "fighting hard to avoid drifting towards insolvency. . .However, I cannot rule out that possibility." OIAG agreed in December to sell its 41.6% share to LH ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8, 2008). Meanwhile AAG management is working on expanding its cost-cutting program.
Aeroflot confirmed its interest in purchasing a stake in CSA Czech Airlines following the Czech government's Feb. 5 tender launch. It intends to sell 91.5% of the national carrier in a two-round tender ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21).
Middle East Airlines and Banque Libano-Francaise entered a $65 million acquisition finance transaction covering the purchase of a new A330-200 to be delivered this month, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported. The bank also committed to $32 million in financing for an A320-200 to be delivered next year.
IntraPoint, the US and Norway-based provider of Crisis Manager software and services, signed an agreement with Icelandair Group to implement its Crisis Manager Web-based software solution for handling incidents and crises.
Air India's low-cost subsidiary Air India Express added its 21st aircraft last week, a 737-800. It will use the plane on a weekly Srinagar-Dubai flight scheduled to start Feb. 14. IX now operates 176 weekly flights to 16 Indian and 14 international destinations.
Boeing now is making progress in its effort to get the 787 program back on track and into the air, with the second flight test aircraft, destined for ANA, due to have its fastener rework completed over the weekend.
Aerolineas Argentinas signed a purchase agreement for 12 737-700s, Argentine Planning Minister Julio De Vido told reporters, according to Reuters. He said the aircraft will begin arriving in April. Boeing did not confirm the report. Separately, AR's Austral subsidiary took delivery of the second of three MD-88s. It said it acquired the 160-seat aircraft from a Mexican source.
EASA formally approved the 777F Friday following FAA certification on Feb. 3, Boeing announced. Launch customer Air France is scheduled to take first delivery this quarter ( ATWOnline, Nov. 18, 2008).
Malev Hungarian Airlines is late paying January wages to its employees and reportedly was able to distribute just HUF50,000 ($217.68) to each worker last Friday, promising the remainder following this week's extraordinary general meeting concerning the carrier's takeover by Russia's Vneshekonombank ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group reported a net loss of ¥38.5 billion ($428 million) for its fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, reversed from a ¥13.1 billion net profit in the year-ago period, citing a "downward slide" in demand and "volatile" fuel prices.
American Airlines flew 9.64 billion system RPMs in January, down 11.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8.3% to 13.07 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.8 points to 73.8%. American Eagle flew 521.9 million RPMs, down 17.9%, against a 12.4% decline in capacity to 852.6 million ASMs. Load factor was down 4.1 points to 61.2%. Delta Air Lines flew 8.87 billion system RPMs in January, a 2.2% drop year-over-year. Capacity was down 8.5% to 7.34 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 76.4%.
The UK's so-called "environment czar" last week raised the possibility of rationing air travel, limiting UK citizens to just a few vacation trips abroad by air per year in order to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Air France Industries, KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Aviation Repair Technologies Services formed an engine disassembly joint venture, Turbine Support International. TSI will disassemble, inspect and repair CF6-50, CF6-80 and CFM-56 parts to support engine repair activities on AF's and other third-party airlines and lessors. AFI and KLM E&M will assume a majority stake in TSI, which will be based at ART's Arkansas facility.
MacAir Airlines, an Australian regional carrier that served Queensland with 11 aircraft, shut down Friday. It operated one ATR 42-500, six Saab 340Bs and four Metro 23s and recently had entered voluntary administration.
Bombardier Aerospace took 114 commercial aircraft orders net of cancellations in its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, down 45.8% from the 238 booked in 2007-08. The 114 commitments comprised 47 CRJs and 67 Q400s. It delivered 110 aircraft during the recently concluded fiscal year (56 CRJs and 54 Q400s), down from 128 the prior year. The Canadian manufacturer said 2009-10 commercial deliveries will rise some 10% year-over-year. It will increase its Q400 production rate, while CRJ rates will remain unchanged.
British Airways was £127 million ($286 million) in the red through the first nine months of its fiscal year, compared to a £642 million surplus in the year-ago period, implying a net loss of £85 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008. CEO Willie Walsh cited "further economic weakness and the fall in sterling" for the result, while the airline repeated its forecast of a £150 million operating loss for the full year ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27).
Mxi Technologies will provide Pratt & Whitney with its Maintenix aftermarket software to support the OEM's power-by-the-hour contracts. Technology features an engine-centric dashboard, life-limited parts forecasting and utilization tracking.
Kingfisher Airlines deferred delivery of its five A380s by two years to 2014 because it wants to wait for the higher-MTOW A380-900 that can fly nonstop to the US, a spokesperson from Kingfisher parent UB Group told Dow Jones. The airline already has deferred delivery of 32 of 48 A320s it was scheduled to take in late 2008 and 2009.
ARINC reached a deal with Enerjet to provide data link communications including its AviNet Ground Network and GLOBALink for 737-700 charter flights. Work involves configuring avionics and data message flow through ARINC's network to interface with Enerjet's applications and third-party providers.
